The clarion., 1887-10-19

there are busy hives of intelligence occu- /
pied by authors and authoresses from |
whose pens drip distillation which Is the |
very nectar Of heaven, and why viii you
thrust your rod Of inquisitiveness into the
deathful saccharine of perdiction?
Stimulating liquids also come into the
category of temptations delicious but |
deathful. You say: 81 cannot bear the
taste of intoxicating liquor, and how any
man can like it Is TO me an aInazenent. y
Well, then, it is no credit to you that you
do not take it. Do not brag about your
total abstinence, because it is not from
any principle that you reject alcoholism,
but for the same reason that you reject |
certain styles Of food-you simply don't
like the taste of them. But multitudes
Of people have a natural fondness for all
kinds Of intoxicants. They like it so
much that it makes them smack their
lips to look at it. They are dyspeptic
and they take it TO aid digestion, or they
are annoyed by insomnia and they take
it to produce sleep, or they are troubled
and they take it TO make them oblivious,
or they feel good and they must cele-
brate their hilarity. They begin with
mint julep sucked through two straws on
the Long Branch piazza and end in the
ditch taking from jug liquid half
kerosene and half whisky. They not only
like it, but it is am all consuming passion
Of body, mind and soul, and after a while
have it they will, though one wine glass
of it should cost the temporal and eter-
nal destruction of themselves and all their
families, and the whole human race.
They would say: II am sorry it is going
to cost me and my family and all the
worlds population 80 very much, but
here it goes to my lips, and now let
it roll over my parched tongue and
down my heated throat, the sweetest,
the most inspiring, the most rapturous
| thing that ever thrilled mortal or immor-
tall To cure the habit before it comes to
| its last stages, various plans were tried in
| olden times. This plan was recon-
| mended in the books: When a man
wanted TO reform he put shot OF bullets
| into the cup or glass of strong drink
| one additional shot each day-that dis
| placed 30 much liquor. Bullet fter bull
let added day by day, of course the liq-
| uor became less and less until the bullets
would entirely fill up the glass and there
was no room for the liquid, and by that
| time it was said the inebriate would be
| cured. Whether any one ever was cured
in that way / know not, but by long ex-
| pertinent it is found that the only way is
| to stop short off, and when a man does
that he needs God TO help him. And
| there have been more cases than you can
count when God has so helped the man
| that he quit forever, and | could count
score of them here today, some of them
| pillars in the house of God.
One would suppose that men would
| take warning from some Of the ominous
names given TO the intoxicants and stand
| off from the devastating influence. You
have noticed, for instance, that some of
| the restaurants are called "The Shades -
| typical of the fact that it puts a mans
reputation in the shade and his morals in
the shade and his prosperity in the shade
and his wife and children in the shade
and his immortal destiny in the shade.
Now, l find on some of the liquor
signs in all our cities the words "Old
| Crow" nightly suggestive of a carcass
and the filthy raven that swoops down
| upon it. "Old Crowl' Men and wo-
men without numbers slain of rum but
| unburied, and this evil Is pecking at their
] glazed eyes and pecking at their bloated
cheek and pecking at their destroyed
| manhood and womanhood, thrusting
beak and claw into the mortal remains of
what was once gloriously alive but
now morally dead. 'sOld Crowp'
But alas, how many take no warn
| ing. They make me think of Caesar
on his way to assassination fearing
nothing; though his statue in the hall
| crashed into fragments at his feet, and a
| ecrol containing tho names of the CON.
| spirators was thrust into bis hands, yet
walking right on to meet the dagger that
was TO take his life. This infatuation Of
strong drink is SO mighty in many man
that though his fortunes ore crashing,
| and his health is crashing, and his domes-
tic interests are crashing, and we hand
him long scroll containing the names Of
perils that await him, he goes straight on
to physical, and mental, and moral as
sassination. In proportion as any style of
alcoholism Is pleasant to your taste, and
stimulating to your nerves, and for time
delightful to all your physical and mental
constitution, is the peril awful. Remem-
Der Jonathan and the forbidden honey in
the woods of Beth-aven.
Furthermore, the gamester 8 indulgence
must be put in the list of temptations de-
hcious but destructive. / have crossed
the ocean eight times, and always one of
the best rooms has, from morning till late
at night, been given up to gambling prac-
tices. l heard of many men who went
on board with enough money for Euro
ropean excursion who landed without
enough money to get their baggage up to
| the hotel or railroad station. To MANY
there is complete fascination in games
of hazard or the risking of money on
possibilities. 1t seems as natural for them
to bet as to eat Indeed the hunger for
food is often overpowered with the hunger
for wagers, as in the case of Lord Sand
wich, persistent gambler, VIII, not being
willing TO leave the dice table long enough
for the taking of food, invented prepara-
| ton of food that he could take without
stopping the game; namely, slice of beef
between two slices of bread, which was
named after Lord Sandwich. 1t is absurd
| for those of us who have never felt
the fascination of the wager to speak
slightingly of the temptation. 1t has
slain a multitude of intellectual and
moral giants, men and women stronger
than you or /. Down under its power
went glorious Oliver Goldsmith, and Glib
bon, the historian, and Charles Fox, the
statesman, and in olden times famous
senators of the United States, vino used
to be as regularly at the gambling house
all night as they Were n the halls of
legislation by day. Oh, the tragedies of
the faro tablet know persons who be-
/ gan with slight stake in a ladies' par
lor and ended with the suicides pistol at
| Monte Carlo. They played with the
square pieces of bone with black marks
on them, not knowing that Satan was
| playing for their bones ut the same time
and was sure 10 sweep all the stakes off
ON his side of the table, The last New
York legislature sanctioned the mighty
evil last spring by passing a law for its
defense at the race tracks, and MANY
young men in these cities lost all their
wages at Coney Island this summer. and
this fall are borrowing from the money
| tills OF their employers or arranging by
means OF false entry to adjust their de-
moralized finances. Every man who
voted for the Ives pool bill has ON his
| hands and forehead the blood of these
souls.
But In this connection some young con-
verts say to me: s'Is it right to play
cards? Is there any harm in a game of
whist or euchre?" Well, l know good
| men who play whist and euchre and
other styles of games without any wagers-
had friend who played cards with his
wife and children, and then at the close
said: Come, now, let us have prayers. y
will not judge other mems consciences.
but tell you that cards are, in my mind.
so associated with the temporal and eter-
nal damnation of splendid young men
that I should no sooner saw to INV
family: Come, let us have game of
cards, than Iwould go into a menagerie
and say: Come, let US have a game of